Audience.
"There are films that cost a lot of money that might be decent films. But if they don't perform in that first weekend or two, they're gone." (actor, producer, director, Grant Heslov)
That's a sad thought. Life gets busy and I often don't make it to the cinema within the first few weeks of a movie's release. Movies need an audience, and certainly voting with my pocketbook is one way to promote quality, decent, films.
Referencing films which failed to find a large audience, film critic Leonard Maltin wrote 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen. "I see more bad films than good, but the best part of my job is leading people to worthwhile movies they might otherwise overlook."
The book gives insights to a wide range of unfamiliar films, but Maltin states, "I don't present these as forsaken masterpieces: they're just good movies that I'm glad I saw."
I was amazed how many titles I'd never heard of! There were only three movies I'd seen (and loved, by the way).
- Matchstick Men (2003), with Nicholas Cage
- October Sky (1999), with Jake Gyllenhaal
- One Fine Day (1996), Michelle Pfeiffer, and George Clooney
I'm half way through the book, researching each film, checking parent guides, and so far I've added the following titles to my Want To See list.
- Disney's Teacher's Pet (2004) (Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer, David Ogden Stiers, and other well known voices)
- The Great Buck Howard (2008), with Colin Hanks, John Malkovich, Tom Hanks
- The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), with Shia LaBeouf
- Island in the Sky (1953). This has John Wayne! How did my John Wayne-loving dad allow me to miss this?
- The World's Fastest Indian (2005), with Anthony Hopkins, and Diane Ladd
I am not the audience for a majority of the films Maltin recommends, but hopefully, as I continue combing through his book, my list will grow.
Do you have a favorite little-known film? I'd love to hear about it!
Great post! We recently watched a Morgan Freeman film called The Magic of Belle Isle. Sweet little movie with heart. I think we found it on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of that movie, so I looked it up and then added it my Want To See list. Thanks for the recommendation! (And thank you for introducing me to "Blogging from A to Z"!)
DeleteExcellent post! So true that there are so many movies that are worth seeing that people have never heard of. I often see a preview, comment I want to see it, don't see it, it falls off my radar and years later I discover it again.
ReplyDeleteps. LOVE the A to Z themes.
For sure. That happens to me often!
DeleteBy the way, I visited your blog and it's "awesome!" ;-)
Great theme! On my movie blog I write about films, too. But this year's challenge I'm taking on Wyoming, my home state.
ReplyDeleteI'm also about decency is films. As a filmmaker, that is what I aspire to. Creating films that entertain and inspire. Great blog, Trudy. Looking forward to your future posts.
DeleteWonderful to meet you! It took me awhile to find your blog, but now I'm a follower. Intriguing blog title.
DeleteThanks for your great "A" post about audiences. I'm always surprised by some movies that make it to the big screen and others that don't that I think should have!
ReplyDeleteThank you for checking out my blog post, and for leaving a comment. (I checked out your blog, too, and I'm still smiling over the picture of you "posing" in the snow.)
DeleteThese sound interesting! I will put them on my watch list as well. I guess one of my favorite little-known movies is Ink. It had a lot to do with storytelling :)
ReplyDeleteHappy A to Z!
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Ink. Never heard of that one either! Thanks for commenting and sharing your favorite little-known movie.
DeleteThese days we don't seem to get to the movies until we can rent them on Red Box. Hubby keeps up with the movies released and knows about them, to me a lot of them I have no idea what they are about. It seems too these days there isn't much time between when the movie is in a theater and it is released to DVD.
ReplyDeletebetty
You're right, Betty. I was looking at a list of DVDs recently and saw one that I thought was currently in the theater!
Delete